Big in Europe Vol. 2 (4 Stars)

This post is about the DVDs accompanying the "Big in Europe Vol. 2" CDs, which I reviewed yesterday. Once more, the DVDs consist of a concert recording and a documentary.

The documentary includes footage of the first three concerts of the 2009 European tour (Warsaw, Berlin and Amsterdam), but most of the documentary is about Klaus discussing his studio recordings. In the early days of his career he was limited by finances and the technical limitations of the 1970's. He was unable to mix his recordings, so albums like "Timewind" were recorded in a single take, live in the studio. Considering the album's quality, that's a phenomenal achievement. As the years rolled by, Klaus took advantage of the new possibilities. After recording on a single track he advanced to three-track recording, and now he has a hundred tracks, more than he possibly needs.

Thomas Dams also speaks about Klaus Schulze's equipment. He says that it must have been hard work for the roadies to go on tour in the early days, because the equipment was so heavy. Those were the good old days of analogue synthesizers. With the increased use of digital instruments, the equipment has become lighter and easier to carry.

When I listened to the Warsaw concert I speculated that the music was quieter and more suppressed than usual because of the serious occasion, the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Poland. The Amsterdam concert is even quieter. Klaus must have been in a mellow mood on this tour. Only the Minimoog solo in the encore shows any aggression. Klaus is totally chilled out. If anything, Lisa Gerrard's vocals have more power than the synthesizers themselves.

For most of the concert the audience sits in silence to take in the performance, but there are sporadic audience noises that can't be heard on the CD recordings. Were they edited out, or were they recorded on a different track that wasn't used on the CD? I don't know. All that I can say is that the music quality on the CD is better, while the live atmosphere is better on the DVD.

At the end of the concert Lisa makes a small speech for the appreciative audience:

"Thank you very much. You're very gracious. It's a great privilege for me to play with Klaus, and a great privilege for both of us to come and spend our time with you. We call our tour the Come Quietly Tour, because we are trying to encourage others to listen to the frequency of breath that comes automatically, which binds us all and enables us to walk gently. We can do more with our gentle steps than we can with war. Go with peace. God bless you".